Unfriended (2014)

dir. Levan Gabriadze

Unfriended takes the format of a computer screen: the entire view is the protagonist’s interface, including her video conversations, messages, and even her music. And honestly, it works okay. The format is used cleverly, drawing you into the movie even as you can’t help but wonder why all the characters are so unbelievably generic. Of course, it’s all underpinned by a plot that is about as colour-by-numbers as you can get, plus it relies a bit too heavily on the common horror film belief that sobbing teenagers and power cuts are inherently terrifying. But still, despite ending on a revelation that you can pretty much predict from three or four minutes into the movie, it still doesn’t do a terrible job overall. It’s bad, but it’s not that bad. Being that bad is a job left for Unfriended: Dark Web.